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Once Saved Always Saved
Perseverance of the saints (also referred to as eternal security as well as the similar but distinct doctrine known as "Once Saved, Always Saved") is a teaching that asserts that once persons are truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nothing in heaven or earth "shall be able to separate (them) from the love of God" (Romans 8:39) resulting in a reversal of the converted condition. The doctrine is analogous to being born destined to being Born-Again or twice-Born. Being Born Again refers to being Born in Spirit (Spiritual Guidance). A person is born physically through his parents "at home", but spiritually through his spiritual teacher. In contemporary Christian usage, the term is distinct from sometimes similar terms used in mainstream Christianity to refer to being or becoming Christian, which is linked to baptism. Individuals who profess to be "born again" often state that they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.123 The phrase "born again" is also used as an adjective to describe individual members of the movement who espouse this belief, as well as the movement itself ("born-again Christian" and the "born-again movement"). Dvija (Sanskrit: द्विज) means "twice-born". The concept is premised on the belief that a person is first born physically and at a later date is born for a second time spiritually, usually when he undergoes the rite of passage that initiates him into a school for Vedic studies. The term also refers to members of the three varnas in the traditional Hindu social system, or social classes — the Brahmins (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors), and Vaishyas (merchants) — whose Sanskara of Upanayana initiation was regarded as a second or spiritual birth. "Dvija" means "twice-born": the first birth is physical, while the second birth is a 'spiritual' one.4The second 'birth' occurs when one takes up fulfilling a role in society, at the time of Upanayanainitiation ceremony. For example, a Brahmin is initiated into school to study and pursue Brahmopadesha (preach, counsel) in the matter of the nature of Brahman, the ultimate reality). Traditionally, a Kshatraiya would start learning the use of arms, while a Vaishya would start a trade apprenticeship.4 The premise of the Dvija concept was that a person is born physically through his parents at home, spiritually through his teacher at school (gurukul) who helps the student form the mind and realize the self. Sometimes the position of Once Saved, Always Saved is held in conjunction with Reformed Christian confessions of faith in traditional Calvinist doctrine which argues that all men are "dead in trespasses and sins" and so apart from being resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life, no one chooses salvation alone. Calvinists maintain that God selected certain individuals before the world began and then draws them to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. They believe that when Jesus said, "No man can come unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44), Jesus was saying that men had to be drawn to Him by God before they would believe. Calvinists have long taught that when the apostle Paul wrote, "God hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4), he was indicating that God actually chose believers in Christ before the world was founded. According to Calvinism, God begins a good work in some and then continues it. They attempt to prove that with the text from the book of Philippians where the apostle Paul writes, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). A minority of the spiritual are actually born again.